


cat therapy

by asterions



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Cat Cafés, Cats, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of Anxiety, Ryouma Definitely Recommends Cats To People Pass It On, The Saiaka Could Be Read Platonically If You Really Want To, Trans Saihara Shuuichi, With The Smallest Bit Of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-04 23:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10292231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterions/pseuds/asterions
Summary: shuuichi is afraid of animals, and kaede supports him in the only way she knows how.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soniagiris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soniagiris/gifts).



> babby's first fic don't hate too much, tho questions and concrit r ok  
> also marina i love you and you deserve the world! and thanks to vee and addy in the ndrv3 chat for beta-reading!!

_cat therapy_

* * *

 

 

In a busy street on a sunny day, Kaede walks briskly ahead, dragging Shuuichi by the wrist.

“H-hey, wait, Kaede!”

She ignores his cry, continuing to pull him across the block, Kaede only letting him go when they approach the front of a narrow, orangey-beige building at the block’s corner. It was plain, the only decoration being the light, hazelnut brown sign on top of the glass door. The lettering, in a powdery blue, cheerfully spelled out “Fuwa-Fuwa Café” in large, cutely rounded letters.

“Y-you didn't need to drag me here, I would've been fine on my own...”

Kaede turns around to face him. Her hands are on her hips, and her stance is wide. She looks about ready to lean in. _Oh no_ , Shuuichi thinks.

“Shuuichi.”

“Y-yes?”

“What do I always say?”

“You're not fooling anybody,” he recites, slightly resigned.

“And?”

“If I have any objections, I should raise them.”

“And do you have any?”

“N-no, it's just—”

“What?”

Shuuichi wrings his hands. “I-I’m not sure I can do this. The last cat I saw was my friend’s, and his old cat yowled and t-tried her best to scratch me, and if not for the fact that he intervened…”

“The cats in here,” Kaede says, pointing to the cat café’s sign, “Are definitely properly trained. We know this for a fact, Hoshi-kun told us so when he recommended us this place. They aren't going to be prone to violence. In fact, cats in general are the softest, most gentle beings you could think of to start with. Didn’t you want to come here to face your fear of animals?”

“Yeah,” he says, without stuttering, but the hesitancy in his voice still remains. Kaede, noticing this, lies her fireplace-warm hand atop Shuuichi’s, a classic sign of comfort between them. In contrast, the day characterized itself early on with blustery, chilly winds, and Kaede’s scarf had more than once whipped in tune with the force, her blonde hair becoming a mess of more cowlicks than usual. But she makes no move to fix it. Instead, she looks Shuuichi dead in the eyes, and asks him calmly;

“Remember when we talked to your parents?”

Shuuichi inhales sharply as the lingering memories hit him; the anxiety pooling from his chest sinking to depths inescapable, a bathroom that wasn’t _his_ that he ran to in refuge of his nervous stomach, and above all, a friend who refused to leave him alone, knocking with all her might on the stall.

The binder he now wears feels ever present in that moment.

“...yeah.”

“Aren’t you glad it’s over? That you can now live as yourself?”

“...yeah.”

“It’ll feel better after you confront it, right?”

“Yeah. You’re right, Kaede.” _As always,_ he thinks, not for the first time. Kaede Akamatsu has gone above and beyond the line of duty for any friend or even girlfriend, and he, not for the first time, feels a little _jealous._

 _She’s always been too good for someone like me, but I can’t disappoint her,_ he thinks, as he steels himself.

“Then let’s go in!” Kaede says, cheerfully shoving the door open as Shuuichi mutters, "pardon the intrusion."  After they’re set up with their appointment in the cat café as promised, Kaede orders them both drinks, and then nudges Shuuichi.

“Shuuichi, don’t just sit there. Interact with the cats!”

“B-but what do I _do?”_

“I don’t know, go pet them or something!” Kaede tells him off, although not unkindly. “You’re the rookie detective, you can figure it out on your own, can’t you? Or am I going to always be the breadwinner here?”

Feeling emboldened, he replies, “I-I wouldn’t _mind_  if it we were to happen if we get married, per se…”

_“Shuuichi!”_

In response, he chooses to inch closer to a small, fluffy looking calico that’s walking nearby. Kaede makes kissy noises, trying to entice the cat, but the cat unflinchingly ignores every attempt Kaede makes to get closer. Finally, the calico takes one hazel-eyed gaze at Shuuichi before it situates himself in front of him. At this point, Shuuichi is visibly panicking, and he feels Kaede nudge him again.

“Come on, cats like pets! He’s giving you permission!”

Shuuichi timidly pets the cat and decides to scratch him behind the ears. This is how you were supposed to do it, right? The cat closes his eyes. He looks content, until he suddenly pokes an ear up when the petting stops, and not used to sudden movements from such a relaxed cat, Shuuichi immediately jerks his hand back and shies away. Eventually, Shuuichi figures that the cat just wants to be pet again, and he obliges him. However, he still flinches every time the cat, Mochi, makes sudden movements such as licking him or poking his ears against his fingers.

But Shuuichi doesn't mind because he’s definitely the softest thing he’s ever touched. Eventually, he begins to stroke Mochi’s neck, and then his back, and repeating the motions for a while until the cat moves to sleep in his bed. His fur is all over Shuuichi's clothes in a patchwork of white, orange, and black, but he can’t stop smiling. Kaede, unbeknownst to him, had taken many pictures of her favorite gentle expression of his, and she vows to save them as her phone's lock screen when they get home.

 

When they finally leave, Kaede and Shuuichi hold hands and hot cocoa in the approaching dusk, and Kaede thinks she might want this forever.

“Did you have a good time?”

Shuuichi tries to hide his face behind his cocoa. What he doesn’t know is that he clearly fails—his blush is luminescent behind the giant mug.

“...yeah.”

And although it’s really just Shuuichi’s usual response to everything, Kaede knows him well enough to know when he’s happy, and leaves him be with a simple;

“Good.”

 


End file.
